Susannah Hewitt. Origin: Old Inhabitant.

Susannah Hewitt was born on New Providence, and married George Johnson. She died before 1811, and her husband died 28 May 1814. Their children were Raphiah Sopia, born 179?, and George Grey, born 5 May 1797, who sadly died at sea in 1814 at the young age of 17. Susannah Hewitt was granted 84 acres in the Deadmans Cay area of Long Island on 27 February 1791; the land shared boundaries with the land of Mary Major, John Newman, and Jeremiah Darville, as well as a marsh. It is noted that spelling in the 18th century was still reasonably casual, and on the Tatnall map, Susannah’s last name was spelled “Hewet.”

Note: A Sarah Ann Hewitt, daughter of the late John Hewitt (of East Florida) went to Nassau on the transport ship Charlotte in 1784, along with her guardians William Moss and John Kerr. She had 11 negroes at the time, suggesting she was from a wealthy family, though it’s likely that she was an orphan. Sarah Ann Hewitt married Theodore George Alexander on 26 April 1793, dying twenty years later, on 13 June 1813. John Hewitt had been granted 200 acres of land in East Florida. On Sept. 7, 1772, Hewitt is listed in the pay accounts from Moultrie at St. Augustine to Hillsborough, “for work done at the ferry.” Tellingly, similar payments were also received by Andrew Skinner and William Alexander, both later land grantees in the Bahamas.

The death of William Keith Alexander at his plantation on Long Island on 1 February 1805 was announced in the gazette. The name of his plantation was “Bon Esperance”(‘Good Hope’ in French), consisting of a house framed of Georgia pitch-pine located in the southern district of Long Island. The land was listed a belonging to William Alexander & son. We are not able to conclusively tie Susannah and Sarah Ann Hewitt to one another, though it is possible that Sarah Ann was the niece of Susannah Hewitt.

Reference: DM, Parrish